Time Signature The heavy wedjat...

Genre: black metal

Described as a rock-influenced black metal release, Acrimonious' "Sunyata" promises to be different from your run-of-the-mill black metal release. And, although I do not really hear any direct rock music influences as such, "Sunyata" definitely is not your average black metal album. The unusually colorful and Hinduistically oriented artwork should be an indicator of this.

There are, of course, several more standard black metal elements on the album; the obligatory tremolo-picking-and-blastbeating is there, as is the intensity of dissonant chords. So, black metal fans should be satisfied. However, and this may in reality be what is meant by "rock-inspired", the album has been given a healthy dose of more accessible types heavy metal in the sense that several tracks on the album feature riff-driven and melodic passages, some of which are thrashy and some of which have more in common with traditional heavy metal than with black metal.

Moreover, there is a considerable presence of death metal on the album, but not to the extent that I would say that we are dealing with blackened death metal - it is more a kind of deathened black metal, if you wish. Apart from certain types of riffage, a ubiquitous death metal element on this album is the vocals which are closer to death grunts than black metal screams.

For my money, "Sunyata" is a very well put together album which, while drawing on various other types of metal, stays true to the band's black metal roots. If you like black metal that goes beyond mere black metal, then chances are that you will like this release.